HUNTING AND TRAPPING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR WINTER

12/12/2005

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross reminds hunters and trappers who haven't had enough time outdoors yet and love to be out in cold weather that they have a mixed bag of seasons from which to choose.  Seasons include deer, snowshoe hares, ruffed grouse, squirrels, cottontails, pheasants, coyotes, furbearers, crows, doves and waterfowl.

The statewide late archery and flintlock muzzleloader deer seasons, and late antlerless deer season for Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) 2B run concurrently from Dec. 26 to Jan. 14.  Also, the late antlerless deer season in WMUs 5C and 5D runs from Dec. 12-23 and from Dec. 26-Jan. 28.

The small game seasons are as follows: squirrel, Dec. 12-23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 4; ruffed grouse, Dec. 12-23 and Dec. 26 to Jan. 28; rabbit, Dec. 12-23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 4; and snowshoe hare, Dec. 26-31. In addition, male and female pheasant hunting will be available from Dec. 12-23 and Dec. 26 to Feb. 4, in WMUs 1A, 1B, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B and 4D.

Hunters who participate in any of these seasons must have a general hunting license, which provides Pennsylvania hunting privileges through June 30.  Depending on the deer season hunters are participating in, they also must meet additional licensing and fluorescent orange requirements. Any hunter carrying a sporting arm during the deer seasons must have an unused deer harvest tag.

All antlerless deer taken by hunters in the late archery and special regulations area antlerless seasons must be tagged with an unused WMU-specific antlerless deer license harvest tag or a Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) antlerless deer permit harvest tag. Flintlock muzzleloader season participants may harvest an antlerless deer with either a WMU-specific or DMAP-specific antlerless deer license/permit or general hunting license deer harvest tag. Buck hunting in the late seasons is governed by antler restrictions and limited to only bowhunters and flintlock muzzleloader hunters who possess an unused general hunting license deer harvest tag.

During the flintlock season, only single-barrel long-guns with a flintlock ignition system are permitted. The firearm must be an original or reproduction of a gun used prior to 1800, which is .44 caliber or larger, with iron, open "V" or notched sights (fiber-optic inserts are permitted). A flintlock ignition system consists of a hammer containing a naturally-occurring stone which is spring-propelled onto an iron or steel frizzen, which, in turn, creates sparks to ignite the gunpowder. Flintlock hand guns are not permitted. Flintlock muzzleloader hunters may use "any single projectile."

Pennsylvania's first flintlock season was held in 1974, the same year the flintlock muzzleloader deer license made its debut. During the season, held over three days on 37 different State Game Lands, 65 deer - including four bucks - were taken. In 1977, the season expanded to include 60 different State Game Lands and hunters reported harvesting 866 deer. The season went statewide in 1979, and hunters reported taking 2,459 deer.

Flintlock hunters also have the option to use crossbows as part of the late flintlock season.  Those flintlock hunters who choose to use a crossbow have the option of using any unused antlered deer tag as an either sex tag anywhere in the state.

Hunters are reminded that firearms limitations for special regulations counties - Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia - remain in effect for the extended antlerless season in WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D. Those restrictions do not apply to those portions of Beaver, Berks, Butler, Lehigh, Northampton, Washington and Westmoreland counties contained in WMUs 2B and 5C, where firearms deer hunters may choose to use a rifle, shotgun or crossbow.

Hunters using archery or muzzleloader licenses, and hunting with those special sporting arms, are not required to wear fluorescent orange clothing while afield, but are encouraged to do so where the seasons overlap with late season firearms deer hunters. Special regulations area hunters must wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing, unless they possess an archery or muzzleloader license and are hunting with a bow, flintlock or crossbow.

Those hunting in the late seasons also may take coyotes with either a general hunting license or a furtaker license, 24-hours a day, from July 1-June 30, including Sundays, as per specifics listed on page 82 of the 2005-06 Digest.  The bag limit is unlimited, and hunters may use electronic calls and can pursue coyotes without wearing fluorescent orange in most instances.  Also, trappers can take an unlimited number of coyotes from Oct. 16-Feb. 18.

New this year for trappers is the ability to use cable restraints for foxes and coyotes from Jan. 1 through Feb. 18.  In order to participate in this new season, trappers must have passed a mandatory cable restraint certification program, which was developed and implemented with the assistance of the Pennsylvania Trappers Association.  For information on courses, visit the Game Commission's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) and click on the "Calendar of Events" link in the left-hand column and choose the month of interest to find the nearest course.

"Hunters are telling us that they are seeing a lot of coyotes, and we have provided the most liberal seasons possible for them to hunt coyotes," said Calvin W. DuBrock, Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management director.  "And, on Dec. 3, just in time for the late seasons, a regulatory change took effect to allow furbearer hunters, including those hunting for coyotes, to use shot up to #4 buckshot.

"Trappers also have been provided a new tool, the cable restraint, which can be more effective during the colder months when ground freeze hinders the use of foot-hold traps."

Furbearer hunting seasons also continue through the winter months, including: red and gray foxes, until Feb. 18, including Sundays; raccoons, until Feb. 18; bobcats, for those with special permits, until Feb. 18; and skunks, opossums and weasels, until June 30. 

Furbearer trapping seasons includes: beavers, Dec. 26-March 31 (bag limits depend on WMU, which is outlined on page 82 of the 2005-06 Digest); minks and muskrats, until Jan. 7; raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes and weasels, until Feb. 18; and bobcats, for those with special permits, until Feb. 18.

Crows may be hunted on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Dec. 30-April 2.

Dove hunters also will have late season opportunities when dove season reopens Dec. 26 to Jan. 4. Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset, and the daily limit is 12.

Waterfowl hunters have a bevy of hunting opportunities to pursue from December into March. Hunters can take Canada geese and white-fronted geese during the following upcoming seasons: Atlantic Population Zone, Dec. 14-Jan. 21, daily limit is three, except on State Game Land 46 (Middle Creek) where the limit is one; Southern James Bay Canada Goose Hunting Zone, until Dec. 31, daily bag is two, and Jan. 16 to Feb. 15, daily bag is five; Resident Canada Goose Zone, Dec. 9- Feb. 15, daily bag is five; and Pymatuning Zone, Dec. 12-29, daily bag limit is one.

Statewide snow goose season runs until March 10, and the daily bag limit is 15.

Canvasbacks may be hunted in the Lake Erie Zone Dec. 7-Jan. 10; in the North Zone, until Dec. 31; in the Northwest Zone until Dec. 30; and in the South Zone until Dec. 24.  All other ducks, sea ducks, coots and mergansers may be hunted as follows: Lake Erie Zone, until Jan. 10; North Zone, until Dec. 31; Northwest Zone, Dec. 12-30; and South Zone, until Jan. 14.

There is a daily limit of six ducks, and it may not exceed more than four mallards, including two hens; one black duck; one pintail; one mottled duck; one fulvous tree duck; two wood ducks; two redheads; one canvasback; four scoters; and two scaup.  The daily limit for coots is 15; the daily limit for mergansers, five, including one hooded.

In addition to a regular Pennsylvania hunting license, persons 16 and older must have a Federal Migratory Bird and Conservation Stamp, commonly referred to as a "Duck Stamp" to hunt waterfowl. Regardless of age, hunters also must have a Pennsylvania Migratory Game Bird License to hunt waterfowl and other migratory birds, including doves, woodcock, coots, moorhens, rails and snipe. All migratory game bird hunters in the United States are required to complete a Harvest Information Program survey when they purchase a state migratory game bird license. The survey information is then forwarded to the USFWS.

For more information, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), and look in the “Quick Clicks” box in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage for “Waterfowl Brochure.”

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